April Baskin

This year, National Small Business Week is being recognized April 29 – May 5, and Erie County Legislature Majority Leader April Baskin is marking the occasion with a series of videos on her Facebook page....

Erie County Legislature Majority Leader April Baskin participated in Meals on Wheels for Western New York, delivering meals to residents in need. The organization serves meals to more than 3,400 homebound clients...

Erie County Majority Leader April N. M. Baskin joined Home Care Workers and Healthcare Workers Rising and marched through the streets of Buffalo on Wednesday to declare they are “Invisible No More.”...

Erie County Majority Leader April N. M. Baskin proudly participated in today’s ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Lofts at University Heights. She joined Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, State Senator Tim Kennedy, and...

Building Bridges

April N.M. Baskin

Majority Leader

Erie County Legislator

District 2

Buffalo native Hon. April N.M. Baskin is passionate about community development for social change. She serves Buffalo and Erie County as Majority Leader of the Erie County Legislature and as Chairwoman of both the Public Safety and Minority & Women Enterprise committees. A former college drop-out, Baskin is conscious of the systemic challenges many women, people of color, and impoverished communities experience in attaining the education credentials needed for economic advancement. She is especially committed to getting resources to under-serviced populations. Legislator Baskin herself had difficulties adjusting to traditional pedagogy styles throughout grade school and high school, and often received failing grades. When she discovered her strengths in the arts, she quickly discovered unique ways to improve her study skills. Equipped with the insights she gained from her personal journey, Baskin developed arts in academic curriculums for public schools throughout the Bronx and Brooklyn N.Y. from 2005-2014.

In 2015, Legislator Baskin developed The College Simulation Experience, an organization that uses arts-based experiential learning to increase college retention rates in low-income populations in Western New York. Legislator Baskin is dedicated to using creative learning methods as a platform for equipping under-served youth with the tools they need to fully take advantage of the educational opportunities available to them. In 2017, the College Simulation Experience hosted its first regional conference, serving 160 high school students from Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Syracuse and Rochester in creative college readiness. To date, the program has provided programing for over 2000 teens in Western New York and provided $3,000 in higher education scholarships.

Legislator Baskin holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts from SUNY Empire State College, and is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Higher Education Administration and Student Affairs at Buffalo State College. Recognizing that children and teens are the future leaders of our communities, she advocates for imaginative expression in youth as a means of enhancing their social-emotional behaviors, communicative and public speaking aptitude, and community-building skills. Legislator Baskin has facilitated workshops, directed stage productions, and instructed advanced-level public school courses in theatre, dance, creative writing, and fine arts

Legislator Baskin is a member of the Buffalo Urban League Young Professionals, and was honored with their Community Engagement Award in May 2017. April was also honored with a 2017 Woman Touching the World Award by Unlimited Possibilities Overcoming Poverty Inc. Most recently Legislator Baskin was honored in 2018 at the ninth annual Roses for Outstanding Women awards program. She served on The Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiative's Buffalo Taskforce. Legislator Baskin is a member of the NAACP Buffalo Chapter, and the Buffalo Urban League Young Professionals. She is a 2017 graduate of the Allstate Minority and Women Emerging Entrepreneurs (MWEE) program sponsored by the University of Buffalo, and Leadership Niagara class of '17.